- Hungary: Authorities uncover $20 million during probe of Orbán-era minister
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Nearly $20m (£14.8m) in cash has been found hidden in farm buildings and buried in forests as part of an investigation into a former minister of Viktor Orbán, authorities have said. Miklós Seszták, who served as minister of national development for four of the ex-prime minister’s 16-year rule, is accused of accepting bribes as part of a scheme involving the state transport company. He has denied any wrongdoing. Hungary’s new Prime Minister Péter Magyar unseated Orbán in a landslide election in April on the promise of launching a sweeping anti-corruption drive. On Friday, following the two-day search for the cash – found in secluded locations across the country – Magyar described it as ‘the end of the mafia’.” (11/14/26)
- France: Depardieu withdraws appeal for 2025 sexual assault conviction
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“French cinema icon Gérard Depardieu is set to withdraw his appeal of a conviction for sexually assaulting two women on a film set, a source close to the case told AFP on Friday, ahead of a hearing next week. The withdrawal comes after a court last year handed the 77-year-old an 18-month suspended sentence and ordered him to register as a sex offender, marking a spectacular fall from grace for an actor who dominated French cinema for half a century. … Depardieu has denied the allegations. The actor has also been indicted in a separate case following a rape complaint filed by actor Charlotte Arnould, 30. He denies the allegations and has appealed against his referral to the criminal court, with a decision expected on November 26.” (11/13/26)
- CA: Months after his death, county supervisor candidate poised to win
Source: SFGate
“A candidate for a county supervisor seat in Northern California, who died in August after falling while door-knocking, is on the brink of winning the race. Bruce Giudici, who was a 68-year-old Valley Springs resident running for the District 5 seat on the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors, has received 2,002 votes, or 57.09%, whereas opponent Clyde Clapp has received 1,505 votes, or 42.91%, as of Tuesday. (Election results for the county are updated every Tuesday and Friday.) Although the election won’t be officially certified until next month, Roberta Corso, a spokesperson for Giudici’s campaign, told SFGATE that only ‘a small handful’ of votes in the county, about 300, have not been counted. If Giudici wins, the seat will be vacant, and the next supervisor will be appointed by California Gov.-elect Xavier Becerra.” (11/14/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/calveras-county-supervisor-race-22528017.php
- US wholesale prices rise at fastest pace in nearly 4 years
Source: ABC News
“Wholesale prices climbed in October at their fastest annual pace in nearly four years, a government report on Friday showed. The producer price index, which measures the amount domestic producers pay to their suppliers, rose 6.5% in October compared to a year earlier, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said. That figure marked the largest annual jump in wholesale prices since November 2022, when suppliers weathered fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.” (11/13/26)
https://abcnews.com/Business/wholesale-prices-rise-fastest-pace-4-years/story?id=138108265
- Friday the Thirteenth: The Annual Fundraiser Killings!
Hey, everyone …
It’s a “Firehose Friday” at the freedom movement’s daily newspaper — we’ve got more than 100 news stories, opinion pieces, and audio/video links lined up for you, available only here at the web edition.
THANK YOU to subscribing contributors TM aqnd CJTS! Their payments yesterday, totaling $12.50, bring our annual fundraiser total (as of 5am) to $1,302!
PLEASE SUPPORT RRND/FND!
Our goal is $5,503 — but supporter GL’s generous “matching funds” pledge will cover the second half of that once we reach $2,751.50. With an estimated 5,000 daily readers across our email, social media, and web editions, that doesn’t feel like it should be a huge stretch.
I like to set “mini-goals,” so: Will you help us reach $1,500 by Monday? That URL again:
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Side note: You may have noticed that I update our fundraiser totals “as of 5am” each morning. Am I getting up early to check on those totals? No. I’m up at 4:30am eastern US time EVERY weekday morning, all year long — and at my desk only a few minutes later — to get the day’s edition finalized and out to you.
If you’d like to tie your financial support to some metric of my dedication, might I suggest a $5.00 donation? After PayPal fees, that comes to $4.34 … which is right about the time of day I’m usually sitting down to work.
Or, if you’re superstitious, a $13 donation might take the edge off your Friday the 13th problems
https://news.rationalreview.com/support-rrnd
Thanks in advance, and have a happy, healthy, and prosperous weekend!
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily - Hormuz: IRGC says tanker carrying LNG hit mine, suffered explosion
Source: AOL
“Iran’s Revolutionary Guards navy said a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas struck a naval mine and suffered an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday while using what they described was an “unauthorised and dangerous route”, state media reported. No details on the tanker were immediately available. Iranian media reported on Thursday that four oil tankers were hit by explosions in the waterway vital for global shipping, adding that the vessels had ignored warnings and entered what it considers restricted areas of the strategic waterway.” (11/13/26)
https://www.aol.com/articles/iran-says-tanker-carrying-lng-070047000.html
- Bitcoin Price Crashes Below $68k as Crypto Liquidations Hit $1.6 Billion
Source: Bitcoin.com
“Bitcoin’s sell-off, which began Wednesday, continued into Friday, with the world’s largest cryptocurrency plunging below $68,000 as fallout from former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s ouster kept financial markets rattled. The latest decline also pushed cryptocurrency liquidations past $1 billion for the second time in recent days. … Altcoins were hit equally hard. Ethereum (ETH), which had slipped below $2,000 hours earlier, plunged to $1,910, bringing its daily losses to more than 6%. XRP, already nursing double-digit losses before the latest sell-off, briefly breached the psychologically important $1 threshold, extending its weekly decline to more than 15%.” (11/13/26)
- Van Hollen says he will challenge Schumer for US Senate majority leader
Source: The Hill
“Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said he would challenge Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) for the role of majority leader on Thursday, setting up a showdown in the upper chamber as Democrats prepare to retake the majority. … Schumer, who served as majority leader from 2021 to 2025, previously announced that he had the votes to return to the post, even as Democrats from both progressive and moderate sides of the party say they will not support him. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) appeared together at a news conference on Tuesday and said they would not back Schumer. Some incoming senators said the same, including Sens.-elect Adam Hamilton (D-Kan.), Annie Andrews (D-S.C.), Abdul El-Sayed (D-Mich.) and Troy Jackson (D-Maine). Sanders and El-Sayed both voiced their support for Van Hollen on Thursday night following his announcement.” (11/12/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/6217923-van-hollen-challenges-schumer
- AK: Regime approves 50-year land lease for large natural gas-powered data center in the Arctic
Source: Anchorage Daily News
“The Alaska Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday approved a 50-year land lease for a proposed large-scale computing data center on the North Slope near the Dalton Highway, the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and the proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline. … Initial site development for the proposed ‘STAK Energy Campus’ is estimated to cost $500 million. The buildings and other infrastructure would include a multi-gigawatt natural gas power plant fired with gas produced locally on the North Slope. … To date, Alaska has no large-scale commercial computing data centers. The data center complex, which is expected to cover about 715 acres, would be air-cooled and would not be tied into the electrical grid that covers Alaska’s Railbelt, though operators could sell power to customers in and around Prudhoe Bay.” (11/12/26)
- US jobless claims tick up to 200,000 but remain low by historic standards
Source: ABC News
“More Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, but jobless claims remain at historically low levels, layoffs are rare and most workers enjoy unusual job security. The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claims ticked up to 200,000 last week from a revised 191,000 the week before, coming in higher than the 195,000 economists had forecast. The four-week average of claims, which smooths out week-to-week volatility, was unchanged at 195,250. Applications for jobless benefits are a proxy for layoffs, and economists watch them closely because they can provide signs of where the job market is headed.” (11/12/26)
https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/us-jobless-claims-tick-200000-remain-low-historic-138076988
- China: Xi rattles saber for “reunification” with Taiwan, which have never been part of People’s Republic
Source: Deutsche Welle [German state media]
“Chinese President Xi Jinping has renewed his calls for ‘reunification’ with Taiwanbut refrained from mentioning the use of force. ‘The historical trends are unstoppable. The complete reunification of our motherland must be realized, and it can, without doubt, be realized,’ Xi said on Thursday. His comments came in a speech marking the 160th birthday of Sun Yat-sen, the political leader who helped lead the 1911 revolution that overthrew China’s imperial dynasty and led to the founding the Republic of China. The Taiwanese government swiftly rebuffed the remarks, saying the territory would not accept submitting to the rule of China’s Communist Party.” [edtor’s note: The last time Taiwan was ruled from mainland Chinaq was 16 years before the 1911 revolution and 54 years before the establishment of the current mainland regime – TLK] (11/12/26)
https://www.dw.com/en/china-taiwan-xi-jinping-reunification/a-79929738
- Trump regime will fund new research on ibogaine
Source: Caledonian Record
“Federal officials on Thursday announced new funding to explore the medical potential of ibogaine, a controversial psychedelic drug championed by veterans, conservative lawmakers and podcasters aligned with President Donald Trump. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said his department is awarding up to $4.9 million to prepare for the first U.S. studies of ibogaine for post-traumatic stress disorder, a hard-to-treat condition linked to higher suicide and substance abuse rates among veterans. The money will not go directly to patient research, Kennedy said, but to lay the groundwork needed to manufacture, dose and design studies of the drug.” (11/12/26)
- Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO
Source: Semafor
“Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned from the chipmaker on Thursday, sending shares down 7% and capping a whirlwind week that cast a pall over what was once the most valuable company in the world. The chipmaker’s CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO, while the board conducts a search for a permanent successor, looking at both internal and external candidates, the company said Thursday. … Huang’s ouster came less than a week after he admitted to an affair with a suspected Chinese spy; on Wednesday, multiple media reports detailed that Huang had another extramarital affair with a subordinate, leaving his position untenable at the company he founded 33 years ago.” (11/12/26)
https://www.semafor.com/article/11/12/2026/jensen-huang-resigns-as-nvidia-ceo
- Ireland faces pressure to stop sending Russia an ingredient vital to its war on Ukraine
Source: Associated Press
“The Karin, a 400-foot-long (120-meter-long) cargo ship, sat moored this week on Ireland’s boggy River Shannon estuary. Soon it set sail for Russia laden with a white powder that can be forged into weapons vital to Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Alumina, the key ingredient in aluminum, goes into everything from toothpaste and lipstick to missiles and drones. A Russian-owned plant in southern Ireland is Europe’s biggest alumina refinery and regularly sends shiploads of the substance directly to St. Petersburg and other Russian ports. … Ireland faced calls to stop the shipments as dozens of European leaders gathered in Dublin this week to discuss support for Ukraine. A summit of the 47-nation European Political Community on Thursday is being followed Friday by a meeting of European Union leaders.” (11/12/26)
- Trump threatens to hike taxes on Amerians over “migrant invasion”
Source: India Today [India]
“US President Donald Trump has threatened to immediately double tariffs on [American buyers of goods from] Mexico unless the country stops what he described as large migrant caravans moving towards the US border, escalating his post-midterm confrontation with Mexico. In a sharply worded post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump claimed that a new ‘invasion’ was underway after Republicans suffered heavy losses in the US midterm elections. He argued that large groups of migrants were forming and travelling through Mexico towards the United States.” (11/12/26)
- Palestine: Israeli troops murder six, including surgeon, in Gaza hospital attack
Source: CBC Newss [UK state media]
“An Israeli airstrike on southern Gaza’s main hospital overnight killed at least six Palestinians, including a surgeon and a teenage boy, medics said, the latest Israeli attack to undermine a year-old ceasefire in the war-shattered territory. The strike hit a building containing surgery wards at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Israel’s military said it targeted a senior Hamas commander and accused the militants of using the hospital complex to plan attacks, which the group denied. Medics and witnesses said two missiles crashed through the roof of the five-storey building, causing extensive damage. The surgery department, which serves half of Gaza’s two million people, was knocked out of service. Twenty others were wounded.” (11/12/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/israeli-strike-on-gaza-hospital-kills-six-people-9.7418729
- Ukraine says military Starlink disrupted again as US envoys meet Putin in Moscow
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine’s military is again facing ‘systematic’ restrictions to Starlink’s military-grade satellite service, Starshield, meaning Kyiv is struggling to intercept Russian jet-powered drones. It came as US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, a day after the latest talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine wrapped up in Abu Dhabi. Zelensky told European leaders in Dublin that Ukraine was trying to clear up the Starlink situation with the American side. But, he added, ‘some things’ were already clear: ‘If someone in America is making decisions that basically treat Ukrainian territory as if it is not Ukrainian, then this tells us where things are going.’ He did not elaborate further.” (11/12/26)
- Trump administration proposes new SNAP limits
Source: mLive
“President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to make it harder to get food aid through the federal government’s big grocery assistance program that serves about 1 in 10 Americans. The administration says the proposed rule would close a loophole by no longer allowing some people who receive benefits under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to automatically qualify for the separate Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program too. About 6.3 million people could lose eligibility for SNAP by the 2029 fiscal year if the proposed change takes effect, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program. That is on top of 5.5 million people who already have lost SNAP benefits over the past year. The plan is laid out in a proposed rule published Tuesday on how to run SNAP, and the government is seeking public comment until next month.” (11/12/26)
- UK: London court finds two Iranian men guilty of spying for Tehran
Source: ABC News
“Two Iranian men who spied on journalists working for a Persian-language broadcaster in London were found guilty Thursday of spying for Tehran. Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court in south London found Mostafa Sepahvand, 41 and Farhad Javadi Manesh, 46, to be working on behalf of the Iranian state and convicted of assisting a foreign intelligence service. A third defendant, Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 57, was acquitted of all offenses against him. … The defendants were accused of visiting addresses linked to their targets, taking photos and videos, and using platforms such as ChatGPT to research them online.” (11/12/26)
https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/london-court-finds-2-iranian-men-guilty-spying-138075096
- ICE gang abductions, deportations hit record high
Source: CBS News
“Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a record 483,200 people in fiscal year 2026, according to new Department of Homeland Security figures obtained by CBS News, marking a historic escalation in President Trump’s signature immigration crackdown, even as voters grapple with the increase in interior enforcement. … ICE also reported more than 491,000 immigration [abductions] during the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, including nearly 475,000 administrative [abductions] — another record, according to DHS.” (11/12/26)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-deportations-arrests-hit-record-high/
- Was the Printing Press History’s Greatest Deregulation?
Source: Students For Liberty
by Ilia Zhuzhunashvili“When people think about deregulation, they usually picture politicians repealing laws, slashing red tape, or opening industries to competition. Rarely do they think of a machine. Yet one of the most important expansions of human freedom did not begin in a parliament or royal court. It began in a workshop. Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press is remembered as a technological revolution. It made books cheaper, accelerated the spread of knowledge, and helped usher in the Reformation and, eventually, the Enlightenment. But there is another way to understand its significance. The printing press may have been history’s greatest act of deregulation, not because governments removed rules, but because technology undermined a monopoly that authority could no longer effectively control.” (11/13/26)
https://studentsforliberty.org/blog/was-the-printing-press-historys-greatest-deregulation/
- How American espionage stopped China … this time
Source: Fox News
by Michael Pillsbury“China may have discovered a remarkably effective way around America’s restrictions on advanced artificial intelligence chips: obtain the processors through ostensibly legitimate companies in Singapore and Malaysia, exploit weaknesses in American export enforcement, and use personal relationships to influence the leadership of the world’s most important AI chipmaker. The unfolding Nvidia scandal raises the possibility that an elaborate Chinese intelligence operation came dangerously close to succeeding. Indeed, some of the technology may already have reached Chinese customers. Congress and the CIA will have to establish how much China got away with and who helped them defeat America.” [editor’s note: The export restrictions themselves defeated America – TLK] (11/13/26)
- Education Freedom Shouldn’t Depend on Your ZIP Code or Income
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kelsy Achtenberg“All children deserve an education where they can thrive. Yet, despite the countless conversations we have about personalized learning, meeting students where they are, and recognizing individual needs, our education system continues to operate under the assumption that one educational model should work for nearly everyone. For some children, it does. For others, it doesn’t.” (11/13/26)
https://fee.org/articles/education-freedom-shouldnt-depend-on-your-zip-code-or-income/
- Tech Companies Are Trying to Shift the Entire Concept of Privacy (Again)
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Thorin Klosowski“Privacy has always been a team sport. The actions you take with communication apps, collaborative software, or your cloud backup solutions, have long impacted everyone else you’re interacting with. But moving those choices deeper into the physical world where strangers, colleagues, family, and friends are all now a part of your privacy choices is drastically changing the game. Tech companies want us to accept a reality where one person’s privacy choices (or lack thereof) means you suddenly need to be an expert in consumer tech who understands the capabilities of many devices on the market, how they work, how and if they signal when they’re recording, and what platforms they do or do not connect to.” (11/13/26)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/11/tech-companies-are-trying-shift-entire-concept-privacy-again
- Honk If You Love Excuses
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“The Democratic elite is not against the modish practice of war — where presidents commit U.S. forces abroad willy-nilly — they are against Republicans. Massie’s impeachment articles were too principled. What a jam. How to respond? When a motion to dismiss Massie’s resolution came up, many Democrats didn’t show up for the vote.” (11/13/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/11/13/honk-if-you-love-excuses/
- Deception Inception
Source: Law & Liberty
by Thomas Pack“Elizabeth Holmes had her way with the media. Then, the media had its way with her. Now, she has made a stunning choice, inviting a documentary film crew to witness her final 34 days of freedom, leaving us all wondering who, this time, would have their way with whom?” (11/13/26)
- Why Gavin Never Met Samantha
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley“Five-year-old Samantha Runnion, a resident of Stanton, California, ‘had the face of an upturned blossom.’ On July 15, 2002, Alejandro Avila, claiming he was looking for a lost dog, forced the child into his car. The six foot, 200 pound Avila, 27 years old and with a history of molestation, took Samantha to a remote canyon. There he repeatedly raped her then murdered the child by strangulation and blunt force trauma. More than 4,000 people attended Samantha’s funeral. … By all indications then-Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom never spoke out on the case. Newsom was elected governor in 2018 and one of his first actions was to issue reprieves for 737 inmates on California’s death row, including Avila and ‘Grim Sleeper’ Lonnie Franklin, convicted of 10 murders.” (11/13/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/11/13/gavin-never-samantha/
- Honor an Election of Change; Replace Chuck Schumer
Source: Common Dreams
by Paul Rogat Loeb“Now that Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is challenging Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for Senate majority leader, we have a choice that lets us honor an election of change. Schumer’s supporters credit him for every Senate upset and proclaim his inevitable coronation as majority leader after leading the Senate Democrats for nearly ten years. But if he’s such a Zen master strategist, why do most of the new senators who represent so much of the party’s future almost unanimously want someone different? Maybe because they’re actually in touch with average Americans, and recognize that letting Schumer continue to symbolize the Democratic brand as majority leader insults the very desire for a different direction that powered their victory.” (11/14/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/honor-an-election-of-change-replace-chuck-schumer
- How the US Brought War to Ukraine
Source: Antiwar.com
by David Swanson“If there is still someone out there who has persisted until now in the idea that Ukrainian history began in 2022, and that wiser members of the U.S. establishment didn’t warn against, and more conniving members strategize for, each U.S. step toward war from the NATO enlargement of the 1990s through the U.S.-backed coup of 2014, the U.S.-backed war that began in 2014, Obama’s military training and base building, Trump’s weapons shipments, Biden’s hostility toward diplomacy, the fantastic horror fables of Russiagate, the reduction of Germany and France to mindless puppets treating the Minsk agreements as a trick, and the U.S. blocking of negotiation or peace just before and just after the Russian invasion — and if such a someone has reached a point of open-mindedness to information, there’s a new book that might really help.” (11/13/26)
https://original.antiwar.com/david_swanson/2026/11/12/how-the-us-brought-war-to-ukraine
- Why Corporate Taxes Matter for Working Families
Source: Inequality.org
by Zorka Milin“For working families, corporate taxes might seem like a distant concern, something for accountants, lobbyists, and politicians in Washington to debate. But corporate taxes are vital to whether our communities can afford healthcare, infrastructure, good schools, and other public services people need to raise healthy families. A generation ago, nearly a third of federal revenue came from corporate taxes. Today they cover only about 6%. When corporations pay less, the gap doesn’t disappear: It means that ordinary taxpayers have to make up for it—or we get weaker schools, roads, and healthcare, plus even bigger deficits. Most Americans, across party lines, think big corporations should pay more. So why doesn’t it happen? Because corporations spend heavily on lobbying and campaign contributions, and their favorite talking point is ‘competitiveness’: Dare to tax us more, and we’ll take our business elsewhere. This threat has helped justify decades of corporate tax cuts.” (11/14/26)
https://inequality.org/article/why-corporate-taxes-matter-for-working-families/
- Declining Government School Enrollment: A Positive Crisis
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“The number of POTENTIAL government students has been decreasing since 2007, when birth rates began falling. That was the beginning of the turning point, the ‘crisis.’ Private education and homeschooling are increasingly reducing the number of ACTUAL government students as well. Will some people experience negative effects from this ‘crisis?’ Yes. Parents may have to make some difficult choices about where, how, and from whom their kids will receive education. Fewer potential teachers and administrators will have jobs waiting for them if they choose to major in education in college. These are the kinds of problems that markets are very good at dealing with. Government monopolies, not so much.” (11/12/26)
- Economic Populism Lost, Again
Source: The Dispatch
by Scott Lincicome“Several concerns drove voters to reject Trump’s GOP in historic fashion: the economy (centered on prices and affordability), Iran, corruption, aggressive deportations, and Trump himself. We know this because voters told us—before and after the election. … the war was an accelerant, not what got voters’ economic fire roaring in the first place. As Phil Magness already detailed for The Dispatch, the administration’s weakness on the economy started with Trump’s tariffs, with voter disapproval evident in both last week’s exit polls and numerous surveys dating back to last spring …. They told us they’d vote on tariffs. Then they did.” (11/12/26)
- The Money the US Government Owes Itself
Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann“”The U.S. government paid just under $1.36 trillion of interest on the national debt during its 2026 fiscal year. That makes 2026 the third year in a row the federal government paid out more than a trillion dollars of gross interest to all its creditors. The government’s net interest payments came in a little over $1.05 trillion. That’s the first time Uncle Sam’s net interest payments have ever exceeded $1 trillion. … According to the Congressional Budget Office, most of the $308 billion difference between its gross and net interest payments represents money Uncle Sam ‘owes’ to itself. The net interest the government pays goes to people and institutions outside the U.S. government.” (11/12/26)
https://www.independent.org/article/2026/11/12/government-owes-itself/
- The Language of Legal Immigration
Source: Liberalism.org
by David L Leal“After decades of contention, we seem to have given up on reforming our immigration system. That system has long had many irrational features. For years, Congress chased the mirage of ‘compromise immigration reform,’ and now the Trump administration and congressional Republicans have gone all in on mass deportation. Neither approach can resolve the fundamental tension between an economy that demands immigrant workers and federal laws that criminalize their hiring. When we tire of self-harming laws and policies and seek rational approaches designed to solve real problems, we will need to go back to basics and reevaluate the very language—and thereby the principles—we use to discuss the issue.” (11/12/26)
https://liberalism.org/essays/the-language-of-legal-immigration
- Congress should ban immigration officials from using social media
Source: The Hill
by Beth Lyon“A long running Immigration and Customs Enforcement practice is to post photos, on Instagram and other sites, of ICE detainees. Often, detainees are shown being put on an airplane for deportation. In just the first year of the administration, at least 2,000 images were posted on X, and over 30,000 immigrants were listed on a new Department of Homeland Security website. Many of the social media posts also list criminal convictions — some erroneous — which are usually posted after a prison sentence has already been served. Still others go further, mocking or disparaging immigrants based on their perceived ethnicity or national origin. … These posts are not law enforcement; they are shocking abuses of power.” (11/12/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/6213068-dhs-social-media-detainee-photos/
- Seattle Mayor & School Board Push Legal Action to Block State Referendum on Transgender Athletes
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson announced that she and the city would back the Seattle School Board’s unanimous vote to begin legal action to block enforcement of Initiative 638, which requires separating boys and girls in K-12 sports in Washington state. Voters overwhelmingly approved the initiative in 36 of the state’s 39 counties. Critics have charged that Wilson and other Seattle Democrats are seeking to negate the popular vote after campaigning on ‘saving democracy’. The greater challenge, however, is the legal basis for such an action in light of recent Supreme Court rulings.” (11/12/26)
- Let Optometrists Wield Lasers
Source: Reason
by Jeffrey A Singer“Alberta joins 17 U.S. states that have given trained optometrists the green light to perform certain advanced procedures, giving patients more eye care options.” (11/12/26)
https://reason.com/2026/11/12/let-optometrists-wield-lasers/
- Brave New Presidential Contest
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob“For years, states have been joining the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC). The compact commits these states to award all their Electoral College presidential votes to the winner of the popular vote nationwide, even if a majority of their own state voters choose a different candidate. It kicks in once enough states sign up to equal the 270 Electoral College votes required to win the presidency. … Once we elect the president purely on the total vote nationally, will sanctuary state California give the nearly five million non-citizens living there the vote for president? Those additional voters would constitute about two percent of the electorate in the entire country.” (11/12/26)
https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/11/12/brave-new-presidential-contest/
- So Far, AI Pessimism is Observationally Equivalent to AI Pessimism
Source: Bet On It
by Bryan Caplan“AI pessimists’ most powerful debating point is that, unlike normies, they foresaw the future. Back when AI was embarrassingly dumb, AI pessimists warned that it would rapidly improve. And rapidly improve it did. … Given the pessimists’ foresight and my confessed lack thereof, there is a strong reason to consider them to be more reliable than yours truly on the subject of AI. I freely concede that. But AI pessimists plus Bryan Caplan are not the only people in world. Most notably, there have long been AI optimists. They too foresaw the future back when AI was embarrassingly dumb.” (11/12/26)
https://www.betonit.ai/p/so-far-ai-pessimism-is-observationally
- AI Company Employees Should Unionize
Source: Astral Codex Ten
by Scott Alexander“You may remember stories of bitter unionization battles at places like Starbucks, but AI workers can probably route around that. The toughest labor disputes happen in fields where the employer could easily fire all the organized workers and replace them from a bottomless pool of faceless scabs: although this is illegal, everyone needs to be maximally lawyered-up to prevent it. But there are so few skilled AI researchers that these laws are hardly necessary; if a dozen top AI researchers threaten to walk, it doesn’t matter whether Section P Sub-Section Q forces the AI company to negotiate – the AI company will want to negotiate.” (11/12/26)
https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/ai-company-employees-should-unionize
- Bidens trying to brainwash everyone, but we all know their scandal-plagued truth
Source: New York Post
by Miranda Devine“You may have thought it was a headline from the Babylon Bee: Hunter Biden Honored for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse’ from prestigious Trinity College Dublin. But it was true. Hunter Biden, the 56-year-old reformed crack and prostitute connoisseur of ‘Laptop from Hell’ fame, visited his ancestral land to be so honored on Tuesday, accompanied by his suddenly compos mentis father, Joe, the former president. A Secret Service cavalcade of seven vehicles chauffeured Hunter and Joe to the university from Dublin’s finest five-star luxury Merrion hotel. We were told that Joe wiped tears from his eyes as his son, fully dressed, accepted Trinity’s gold medal for contributions to society amid glowing accolades from Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, who posted photos of their meeting on social media.” (11/11/26)
- Scharf’s Pseudoconstitutional Barf
Source: Liberal Currents
by Adam Gurri“The administration sent a threatening letter to Representative Robert Garcia, a California Democrat, over public comments he made about holding the administration accountable. Garcia shared the full contents of the letter publicly and said he would not be deterred. In relating the above I am not talking about the events of this week. I am talking about February of last year, when then interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin sent a letter to Garcia over the latter’s statements on CNN about opposing Elon Musk and DOGE …. Garcia was not intimidated at that time …. Garcia was even less impressed by White House counsel Will Scharf’s threatening letter this week, coming as it does when Garcia is preparing to step into leadership of the House Oversight Committee after a historic crushing of the Republican Party at the ballot box last week.” (11/12/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/scharfs-pseudoconstitutional-barf/
- Bernie Sanders Would Make Social Security Bigger and America Poorer
Source: The Daily Economy
by Romina Boccia“‘Scrapping the cap’ sounds like an easy fix for Social Security. The economics tell a different story: less work, lower investment, and lost tax revenue elsewhere.” (11/12/26)
- The Enemy at Home
Source: The Chris Hedges Report
by Chris Hedges“The belief that Democrats will dismantle a system designed to serve the rapacious greed of the war machine and the ruling billionaire class is a mirage.” (11/12/26)
- The midterm warning signs for Democrats no one is talking about
Source: Fox News
by Luke Ball“Democrats have been deliriously giddy since the midterm elections. Their party, rudderless and defeated for two years, appeared to come roaring back into relevance with a House and Senate majority. The once-defunct political careers of establishment Democrats like Chuck Schumer roared back to life, as even traditionally safe Republican seats faced the wrath of a disgruntled electorate. But as Democrats celebrated their candidates’ wins in campaign offices across the country, dozens of conservative [sic] victories went largely unnoticed in the very same states Democrats claimed were now solidly blue. The Democrats’ victories were a backlash against broken Republican promises. They were not a mandate to usher in a vast liberal [sic] policy platform.” (11/12/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/luke-ball-midterm-warning-signs-democrats-no-one-talking-about
- Asking an Unanswerable Question
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Patrick Barron“The citizenry must understand that they cannot shirk their personal responsibilities to provide for themselves in all things apart from international relationships and military preparedness. Not only is providing for oneself and one’s family an ethical issue, it is impossible to transfer this responsibility to others.” (11/12/26)
- The JD Vance 2028 presidential dream isn’t dead — yet
Source: Washington Post
by Ramesh Ponnuru“Republicans are marinating in gloom following the midterm elections, and fair enough. They ought to spend time considering the course that led them to lose so spectacularly in Iowa, Ohio, Texas and Mississippi. But the pessimism about their party’s chances in 2028, which has some people suggesting that Vice President JD Vance write off the year and wait for a better one, is overdone. … Some elections are unwinnable. Democrats were never going to beat Ronald Reagan in 1984, no matter who they nominated or what the nominee said. Republicans had no chance of winning in 1996 or 2008, either. But it’s much too soon to say the Republican nomination isn’t worth having in 2028.” (11/12/26)
- The Family Annihilator Presidency
Source: Liberal Currents
by Samantha Hancox-Li“Donald Trump is not well. His hands are swollen and discolored. He brags about ‘acing’ a cognitive test that is used as an instrument to detect dementia. He appears to have suffered from a stroke which led to visible irregularities on his face. He regularly falls asleep during press conferences and shits himself on camera. Donald Trump is not well. But he still retains his power to terrorize his own closest supporters.” (11/12/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/the-family-annihilator-presidency/
- Eric Trump’s Humanoid Robots To Be Used In Gaza Genocide
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“The Financial Times has published a new article titled ‘Humanoid robot start-up backed by Eric Trump in talks with Israel’s military’ which is exactly as horrifying as its headline suggests. The article features photographs of bipedal armored robots which look like they came from the set of a post-apocalyptic Hollywood movie, and opens as follows: ‘A company backed by Eric Trump is in talks with the Israel Defense Forces to supply humanoid robots to patrol Hamas tunnels beneath Gaza and potentially engage in combat. Foundation Future Industries co-founder and president Mike LeBlanc said he had met senior Israeli military officials for preliminary discussions in September and toured tunnels with the US start-up’s Phantom MK1. ‘We’re in direct talks with the chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces,’ the former US Marine told the FT, adding that his company was in discussions to supply up to 1,000 Phantoms.'” (11/12/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/11/12/eric-trumps-humanoid-robots-to-be-used-in-gaza-genocide/
- Diagnosis in Place of Reason and Feeling
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Sinead Murphy“At school, my son is studying King Lear. In a recent test, he came fifth best of twenty-two students. ‘What was the subject of the test?’ I asked him. ‘It is impossible to feel sorry for Lear in the first two scenes of Act One,’ he told me. ‘What did you write?’ I asked. ‘That it is not impossible to feel sorry for Lear. Because of Lear’s cognitive decline.’ Lear, victim of Alzheimer’s disease. One of the richest literary outputs of human history: swallowed by a diagnosis.” (11/12/26)
https://brownstone.org/articles/diagnosis-in-place-of-reason-and-feeling/
- A Soviet Handbook for Fighting Totalitarianism
Source: Law & Liberty
by Jacob Howland“When Vladimir Bukovsky’s memoir of his public struggle against Soviet tyranny appeared in 1978 in Michael Scammell’s energetic English translation, reviewers welcomed it as an exceptional book. Written with literary flair and suffused with quiet moral authority, it exposed, in excruciating detail, the demonic brutality of the psychiatric repression of political prisoners under Khrushchev and Brezhnev. To Build a Castle also vividly portrayed the misery of life on both sides of the barbed wire in a country ruled by fear, plagued by pervasive aggression, alcoholism, and nightmarish bureaucratic torments, and impoverished by universal corruption and an economically murderous ideology.” (11/12/26)
https://lawliberty.org/book-review/a-soviet-handbook-for-fighting-totalitarianism/
- The Unpardonable Malpractice of Pete Hegseth
Source: The Nation
by Michael T Klare“The offenses cited by Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) in commencing impeachment proceedings against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth—that he initiated and sustained the war with Iran without required congressional approval, conducted military operations in Yemen and the Caribbean without such approval, and eroded protections for civilians trapped in overseas war zones—are all valid and fully justify his removal from office in accordance with constitutional precepts. But however worthy, they fail to capture his essential, unpardonable offense: strategic malpractice when commanding troops in battle.” (11/12/26)
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/pete-hegseth-iran-war-military-strategic-failure/
- Say’s Law and the Riots in France
Source: Cobden Centre
by Patrick Barron“When French finances go deeply negative France cannot simply demand that the Bank of France print more francs out of thin air. The franc is gone and the Bank of France, which still exists, is an intermediate entity between French banks and the European Central Bank. The power to print more euros and buy French bonds is difficult because the other members of the European Union have power to oppose what they easily see as monetization of French debt that probably will not be repaid in euros of purchasing power as lent. If they accede to a new round of bond buying at all, the interest rate will be much, much higher.” (11/12/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/11/says-law-and-the-riots-in-france/
- Did Walmart Use Market Power to Rig Battery Prices?
Source: Washington Monthly
by Jarod Facundo“Conventional wisdom holds that Walmart’s low prices reflect volume discounts and economies of scale used by the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer—America’s largest employer and largest grocery retailer by sales. But the PepsiCo suit, brought by the FTC under its then-Chair Lina Khan, presented evidence of the opposite of efficiency: PepsiCo’s painstaking micromanagement of prices to protect its most powerful buyer. For consumers, this raises the possibility that Walmart’s market power does not, at least in this case, discipline prices downward, but inflates them across the market. … But before the FTC suit regarding PepsiCo was filed in January 2025, private plaintiff antitrust suits against Walmart and battery maker Energizer had already been underway for two years. These cases, which have received scant media attention, provide another set of allegations that Walmart may be influencing its suppliers’ pricing decisions in ways that harm consumers.” (11/12/260
https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/11/12/did-walmart-use-market-power-to-rig-battery-prices/
- But *why* do NHS wheelchairs take so long?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall“This sounds distinctly non-optimal: ‘Disabled people in England ‘have to wait up to two years for wheelchairs’’ … We do grasp that wheelchairs are more than simply four wheels and a chair these days. Also that there’s more than a little personal optimisation dependent upon the specific disability being catered to. But they’re not that complicated. … There is competition for the trade so where is the problem? Why is it that it can take up to two years? No, we don’t know either and it seems to us one of those things where we’d all like to know the answer. Our assumption is that the problem is with the monopoly, the NHS.” (11/12/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/but-why-do-nhs-wheelchairs-take-so-long
- Freakonomics Radio, episode 695
Source: Freakonomics
“Can the U.S. Close Its Fertility Gap?” (11/13/26)
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/can-the-u-s-close-its-fertility-gap/
- The Dispatch Podcast, 11/13/26
Source: The Dispatch
“The New Right Tries to Reinterpret the Midterm Results.” (11/13/26)
- Brett Erickson on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
“Scott interviews Brett Erickson about a deep dive he did recently into the shocking extent that the hawkish think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is effectively running Trump’s economic war with Iran.” (11/13/26)
- Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 11/14/26
Source: Freedom Works
“Ian Lustik, Quincy Institute ‘Israel’s Election Outcome.'” (11/14/26)
https://internetradiopros.com/freedomworks/?name=2026-11-14_zfw11022026.mp3
- The Anarchist Experience, episode 606
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich and Riley talk about Pete Hegseth’s Veteran’s Day fiasco, and in keeping with the theme, these HEADLINES: The Cruel Irony of Veterans Day … On Veterans Day, Thank a Taxpayer.” (11/13/26)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2026/11/13/the-anarchist-experience-606/
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 11/12/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Senate Sets Sights On US/Israel Military Integration In NDAA Bill.” (11/12/26)
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 11/12/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“Trump Says US Doesn’t Need Iran Deal, Israel Bombing of Gaza Hospital Kills 6, and More.” (11/12/26)
- The Illegal News with Sarah Longwell, 11/12/26
Source: The Bulwark
“Trump’s DOJ Is Falling Apart as Top Officials Flee (w/ Andrew Weissmann).” (11/12/26)
- Nonzero, 11/12/26
Source: bloggingheads.tv
“Jensen Huang RESIGNS from Nvidia, RSI Coming in 2027 — with Robert Wright.” (11/12/26)
- Serious Trouble, 11/12/26
Source: Serious Trouble
“Trump’s election lawsuits fizzle; judges in Washington and Chicago demand DOJ explain its conduct; a lawsuit arguing the McRib is fraudulent (because it’s not ribs) survives a motion to dismiss.” (11/12/26)
- Half the Answer, episode 115
Source: Liberal Currents
“2026 Midterms Political Ad Roundup.” (11/12/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/2026-midterms-political-ad-roundup-half-the-answer-115/
- The Economics of It, 11/12/26
Source: Cato Institute
“The Economics of Rent Control.” (11/12/26)
https://www.cato.org/multimedia/economics-it/economics-rent-control
- Underthrow Podcast, 11/12/26
Source: Underthrow
‘We Have to Return to the Work of Doing Good.” (11/12/26)
- The Kyle Anzalone Show, 11/12/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Harrison Berger: Has Trump Turned on Israel?” (11/12/26)
- TAC Right Now, 11/12/26
Source: The American Conservative
“A Russian Insider Looks at Ukraine War, w/ Fyodor Lukyanov.” (11/12/26)
- The Headlines, 11/12/26
Source: New York Times
“A Second Affair Revelation Rocks Nvidia, and a Democrat Wins Mississippi in a Major Senate Upset.” (11/12/26)
- Year Zero with Tommy Salmons, 11/12/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Ordinary Men Chp 15 w/John Weeks.” (11/12/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/ordinary-men-chp-15-w-john-weeks/
- Rising, 11/12/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on tech CEOs like Alex Karp appearing to pivot to more liberal views after Democrats took control of Congress in the midterms.” (11/12/26)
- The Daily Blast With Greg Sargent, 11/12/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s Christian Allies Rattled After His On-Air Rage Takes Dark Turn.” (11/12/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/217860/trump-christian-allies-rattled-on-air-rage-takes-dark-turn
- Advisory Opinions, 11/12/26
Source: The Dispatch
“First Amendment, Still Revolutionary.” (11/12/26)
https://thedispatch.com/podcast/advisoryopinions/first-amendment-still-revolutionary/